California Supreme Court’s constitutional concern with sex offender registration

With thank to How Appealing for the tip and this link to the opinion, I see that today the California Supreme Court ruled that the state’s sex offender registration law has an equal protection problem.  Here is the key conclusion of the opinion in People v. Hofsheier, No. S124636 (Cal. Mar 6, 2006):

We therefore conclude that the statutory distinction in section 290 requiring mandatory lifetime registration of all persons who, like defendant here, were convicted of voluntary oral copulation with a minor of the age of 16 or 17, but not of someone convicted of voluntary sexual intercourse with a minor of the same age, violates the equal protection clauses of the federal and state Constitutions.  This conclusion does not preclude the Legislature from requiring lifetime registration both for persons convicted of voluntary oral copulation and for those convicted of voluntary sexual intercourse, thus treating both groups the same.

I will leave it to readers to explain to me whether this ruling should be considered a victory for “voluntary oral copulation” or a defeat for traditional “voluntary sexual intercourse.”

UPDATE:  How Appealing has the newspaper coverage of the Hofsheier ruling linked here.